Book Link Interviewed Pradeep Chopra On Opportunity Of Digital Marketing

Q. Please brief us about Digital Vidya

Pradeep: Started in 2009, Digital Vidya is today one of Asia’s leading Digital Marketing education company. We help organizations grow by leveraging Digital Marketing through our experiential Digital Marketing training programs. We’ve contributed to the success of over 4500 professionals (including CXOs) from over 1500 brands such as Nokia, Google, eBay, Times of India, Reliance, Star TV, Cisco, MakeMyTrip, Naukri, Citibank, Toyota, Intel, ITC, CNBC, NIIT and SAP through more than 175 Digital Marketing trainings by Digital Vidya across Asia.

Q. How did the idea about Digital Vidya came into existence?

Pradeep: The founding team at Digital Vidya started their journey to leverage Digital Marketing for their 1st venture, Whizlabs Software in year 2000. Since then we were informally sharing our experience with others to leverage Digital Marketing. For e.g. speaking at various conferences to help fellow entrepreneurs and professionals leverage Digital Marketing for their organizational growth. In 2009, someone suggested that why can’t we do that formally and that gave birth to Digital Vidya.

Q. Why has it become necessary for businesses to have a digital marketing strategy?

Pradeep: Today for most of the businesses, Digital Marketing is no more an option, as their customers are present on this medium. For them to reach out to their customers and engage with them, efficient Digital Marketing strategy is critical. Moreover, number of users on this medium and time spent is only increasing.

Q. What challenges do brands normally face while building their presence online?

Pradeep: Firstly, a large number of brands don’t consider online as integral part of their overall marketing and thus, don’t invest right resources to strategize & execute them. For the same reason, they don’t set right and realistic metrics to measure their success. Moreover, they mostly underestimate the importance of content, which is critical for success in Digital.

Q. What are few things which marketer should keep in mind while marketing on Digital Media?

Pradeep: A Digital Marketer must be clear about the business objectives and target audience of the organization. S/he should choose the Digital Marketing platforms based on the target audience vs choosing a platform based on his/her understanding. Defining key metrics based on the business objectives and identifying relevant tools & processes to measure the same should form the foundation for continuous improvement.

Q. According to you, what’s the opportunity of Digital Media for publishers?

Pradeep: In my view, publishers can leverage Digital Media to fulfill multiple business objectives across product creation, marketing and customer service. Digital Media can be embraced to enhance the value of the products offered by publishers. For e.g. Digital storytelling is increasingly becoming popular due to penetration of Internet and improvement in the capabilities of digital devices such as smart phones. “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle, a story very popular among toddlers is one of the great examples of digital storytelling successes. This story was published in 1969? Even after 44 years, this story is still one of the most popular books among primary schools. Digitization has contributed to its success. Given the impact its make, Digital storytelling benefits the entire publishing ecosystem comprising of authors, publishers and readers (or viewers).
Like other brands, publishers can surely leverage Digital Media to acquire new customers and server them better.

Q. How do you see the digital media space shaping up in the coming year both in India and globally?

Pradeep: I see the next level of growth in terms of investment in digital space across the world and Asia is going to take a lead in terms of this growth. Integration of technology with marketing, growth of mobile marketing, increased investment into content and more participation among B2B players will be key factors of this growth in 2014 and ahead. Emergence of newer avenues such as WhatsApp will also be part of future growth story. Also, consolidation at Digital Marketing agencies level will continue to grow in he coming year.

Q. How can Digital Vidya help someone who’s serious about leveraging Digital Marketing for his/her organization?

Pradeep: As a Digital Marketing training company, we help entrepreneurs and sales & marketing professionals learn Digital Marketing for their organizational growth. Our Digital Marketing Master Certification course is designed to achieve the same and it has been contributing to the success of organizations in leveraging Digital Marketing since long time. One can find complete details about our courses at http://www.digitalvidya.com.